Ultrasensitive molecular imprinted electrochemical sensor for in vivo determination of glycine betaine in plants

Geng Ai; Yanan Zhou; Heng Zhang; Qian Wei; Bin Luo; Yingge Xie; Cheng Wang; Xuzhang Xue; Aixue Li

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137554

Ultrasensitive molecular imprinted electrochemical sensor for in vivo determination of glycine betaine in plants

Food Chem. 2024 Mar 1:435:137554. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137554. Epub 2023 Sep 23.

Authors

Geng Ai¹, Yanan Zhou², Heng Zhang², Qian Wei², Bin Luo², Yingge Xie³, Cheng Wang², Xuzhang Xue², Aixue Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China; College of Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
² Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China.
³ College of Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China.
⁴ Intelligent Equipment Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China. Electronic address: liax@nercita.org.cn.

PMID: 37774618
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.137554

Abstract

Glycine betaine (GB) is a bioactive molecule protecting plants from abiotic stress. This study fabricated an ultrasensitive molecular imprinted polymer (MIP) electrochemical sensor to perform in vivo measurements of GB. Polydopamine (PDA) was formed on the carboxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (COOH-MWCNTs) by spontaneous polymerisation of dopamine (DA). Then MIP-coated MWCNTs were fabricated on a Au nanoparticles (NP) and thionine (Thi) modified screen-printed electrode (SPE). The MIP-COOH-MWCNTs/pThi/AuNPs/SPE exhibited an ultrasensitive GB detection response between 1 fmol/L and 10 mmol/L (R² = 0.996) with a low detection limit (0.707 fmol/L, S/N = 3). In vivo measurement of GB in cucumber seedling leaves under different salinity stress conditions confirmed the practical applicability of the MIP sensor. Thus, this study proposed a novel and promising fabrication method for an electrochemical MIP sensor that has broad application prospects in precision agriculture.

Keywords: Electrochemical sensor; Glycine betaine; In vivo measurement; Molecularly imprinted polymer.

MeSH terms

Betaine
Electrochemical Techniques / methods
Electrodes
Gold / chemistry
Limit of Detection
Metal Nanoparticles* / chemistry
Molecular Imprinting* / methods
Nanotubes, Carbon* / chemistry

Substances

Gold
Betaine
Nanotubes, Carbon